To feel sad that the 'corner shop' is now the 'parcel shop'?

[bananamilkshake123]

Prepared to be told AIBU as I use vinted and both send and collect parcels at times but I feel sad at how my local shop has now just become the parcel shop. I imagine this happens all over due to the popularity of selling sites and returns for online retailers.
Last time I went into our local shop my son couldn't even choose sweets as the kids shelves were completely blocked off by parcels awaiting collection. As I say, I'm aware that I'm probably part of the problem but I wonder if its just me who feels this way...

I can't understand why, in our local corner shops, there is only one person serving. You have to stand in the same as the people with parcels if you want to buy a sweets. And they parcel serving is so.............zzzzz...........slow. Here's a revolutionary idea. Why not have two people serving, like the old post offices did. One serves for shop produce, one for parcels.

Well, cost, of course.

Even most of the great big supermarkets only have two actual people actually serving at any one time!

That’s very true , they have so much competition from the big guys with their buying power and loss leaders that we shouldn’t see these small shops as overpriced.

I was about to say this . Paying for 2 people would presumably wipe out any profits

It’s the only reason some places are still open. I’ve seen some remodel to handle the new business flow better. Not something they want to do lightly because if the expense, but eventually they will figure out a way to make it all fit nicely.

Well, in our local corner shop and many of the others I've been in, there are often more than one person there, behind the till area. One stood doing very little while the other serves, then they swap. Can't they both serve at the same time? one on parcels, one on shop produce. They always used to, as I remember. In the not so near past, there was never just one person serving in a corner shop.

I don't thinķit makes a difference TBH. If your corner shop is crap a parcel service won't change that!
Nearly all the corner shops and garages near me do parcels, either in store or lockers outside. I wouldn't even have walked in the door if I didn't parcels to collect so it clearly does increase potential customers!

The problem is, people won't go to their town centre for two years and when they do go be shocked at how much it has changed/the amount of vape shops and barbers. But if people aren't going into town for 2 years at a time how can nice traditional shops stay open? Three chicken shops are better than three bordered up shop fronts even if I would rather have a florist.
And a small shop doubling as a parcel shop sounds a better compromise than closing down altogether.
People can't change their spending habits and the be surprised when the shops also change.

Some of these 'corner shops' have started doing the parcel service but it is obvious they hate doing it. You are made to feel like a inconvenience for asking for a parcel and then it can (what seems like) take ages for them to find it.

Last time I picked up a parcel, I was told off by the shop assistant because the size of the parcel was too big. It wasn't even that big! The item I ordered was packaged in a much bigger box.

When there is an option to pick up from a locker, I choose that every time. Much easier.

our little off license which doubles as a post office was so crammed full of parcels the last time i went, it was a monday though and their busiest day

Likely because the fee they'll get for dealing with parcels will be tiny and Evri etc will have sold it to them as 'increase footfall and sales for your shop' but most people won't buy anything and just collect/drop off their parcel. More people paying by card will have likely also hit their income because a lot of contracts have a fixed fee per transaction which takes a big chunk of the profit for a small sale.

A lot of convenience store owners probably don't even make NMW for the hours they work especially those who are open long hours 7 days a week.

My Evri/Post Office/corner shop have 2 queues "shop only" and "parcels/post office" so if you're just popping in for milk/bread you're served quickly.

Yes @Bjorkdidit, our local shop told me that they hardly make any money from taking these parcels, but that they do it to bring customers into the shop in the hope that they might buy something. Obviously if the parcels are blocking access to their shelves this should be sorted out as it's self-defeating.

They also sell top-ups for travel cards but ask for cash payments as card payments costs completely obliterate any fees they might receive and each top-up would cost them money.
We all try to pay in cash if we can to help them as card payments are not great for them.

Do you feel sad that 'cart tracks' are now 'roads'? I think it's inevitable that there will be winners and losers from progress, but it's how losers adapt that's important.

Your child picking sweets occasionally won’t keep the shop open though, will it!

Your complaining, yet you are part of it. Yabu.

Agree, they need to take parcels in to continue to make money.
OP would do the same if they were in business.

The likes of Tesco metro etc were the kiss of death for the corner and village shops. People won't pay the higher prices so parcels are the replacement. And as much as people don't like them so are vapes and booze.

Exactly. When people start lamenting change, I join in with “Isn’t it a shame about all the blacksmiths who are out of business. If only we hadnt started travelling everywhere by car.”
for the record, our local parcel shop is in an Asian supermarket. Yes, they dither about a bit finding your parcel among many, but it enabled me to send back my no longer needed Virgin Wi-Fi hub last week, and return a dress that didn’t fit. They print the label for you, give you a receipt etc. It’s a great service. (They also sell all the spices you can think of, wine, milk, bread etc.) And frankly, if they do all that for 20 measly pence, I take my hat off to them.
People need to adapt to change. If we are all shopping online, they need to find another way of encouraging us into their shop.

They may be keeping an eye on the cameras, or just surreptitiously watching out for customers who may 'forget' to pay for goods; or scoping out anybody who may be armed, or give off signs of aggression or violence.

Shoplifting at Tesco hits their profits and puts prices up for honest customers; but theft can actually spell the end for little local shops, if they can't sustain the losses... and people already complain about their prices, so simply increasing them isn't quite as straightforward as it could be.

Moreover many little shops don't have the sophisticated computer systems that the big chains have, so they often need to monitor sales to see what needs restocking, what doesn't sell well and so won't be continued, as well as the lines that particularly seem to disappear from the shelves in large numbers without doing so via the till.

It may look like there's a person standing there doing nothing who could be serving instead, but in reality, that person is often covering the jobs that several people (and fancy computer programs) would be doing at Tesco.

I tend to buy milk or bread while I'm there so there probably is some merit to this

There's another shop near us that has an angry ALL IN CAPITALS shouty sign that literally tells people to buy something in the shop 😂

All of my little corner shops take parcels, but they're not in the way. Sounds like your shop needs a better system.

Yes I acknowledged this myself but thanks!